Has anyone installed the enginer PHEV?

The Enginer System is much better than it was a year ago. I agree that you want a good installer. In NY area I would suggest talking to Doug at...
http://www.transatlanticelectricconversions.com/
Thanks,
Dan

 

And the down side is that the PHEV will be a Gen III design with all its ergonomic failings (IMHO).

• No touch screen except for NAV meaning nasty little non tactile dedicated buttons for climate and radio that are lower and therefore require more 'eyes off the road' time.
• No rear view camera unless you fork over for Nav
• Shifter on the 'leg encroaching, space robbing' arch which also makes the open storage area under it useless to a driver whereas the drawer under the console in the Gen II is both enclosed AND available to the driver while 'on the road'
• I won't go on, I've bitched about this since they first came out.

So no 'perfect' option. You can 'PHEV convert' a Gen II but can't drive short distances ( a couple of miles) in electric without the engine warming up first, negating the 'short drive' EV potential. Or you can get a PHV Gen III and lose many of the most ergonomic features of the Gen II.

 

Actually, you have it backwards. It's the GenIII that can't drive in EV from the start and has to take a warm up penalty. The GenII can go straight into EV mode as long as you press the EV button within 12 seconds (I think it is 12 sec.) after you push the READY button.

 

So, I'm guessing that the incoming Prius PHEV is not for you, we understand your points, alone.
I would like to read your rants after the MSRP is public in 2012.

 

Hmm.. That doesn't sound right.. Sounds like you're talking about a Gen 3.

My Gen 2 lets me go up to 70 MPH over 50 miles... without warming up the ICE.....

 

I guess you haven't seen my video of my driving my daughter to school in EV mode in a Gen-II.

 

That's ironic because all of the things that you cite as negatives were reasons why I bought a Gen3 Prius. I hated the touchscreen on the Gen2 - you have to look at it to press a button, you can just touch the controls on the Gen3 without looking because you can feel the ridges. I didn't like the LCD screen for the engine status - I like the display of the engine up by the speedometer with controls for it on the steering wheel. I even like having the opening under the arch - I put things that I need to remember to do - like letters for the post office, and checks to deposit there, and I put my sunglasses there... I really like it. I'm not saying that one of us is right and the other wrong, but I do think it's funny that several of the reasons why I never bought Gen2 Prius are things that you really miss on the Gen3.


That arch thing is great for the Enginer BMS display. I can see it just fine if I need to while driving but it's not right in my face distracting me.

As far as the original topic, I bought an Enginer kit in Dec. and installed it myself in early Jan. Took about 6 hours and a bunch of that was trying to figure out how to get the trim pieces off. The actual installation was easy. I've been reasonably happy so far. It's been cold here - very cold - so my mileage hasn't been stellar so far, but the days when it's warmed up I had hints of what it will be like someday when it thaws out here in Colorado.

About my only complaint with the kit is the smell when it starts to heat up. I have to keep the heater/vents running because otherwise there's this unpleasant rubbery plasticy smell. But aside from the smell, the kits been great and my mileage has noticeably improved (about 15-20%) and I have higher expectations for when the weather is warmer than the high (HIGH!) of 5F/-15C tomorrow.

 

The smell is pretty grim, and is worse the warmer it is in the cabin.

I've not found anywhere good for the display, and the wire gets right in the way in a RHD car. at the moment its in the centre console so i could hear it beeping and can get to the card, but don't look at it while driving.

 

Interesting...first I heard of the Enginer having a grim smell...I've never spotted it mentioned before!

 

Yeah, most users report it lasts a few weeks until it cooks off.

 

So the smell is definitely pretty bad, but:
1. I didn't connect the venting which would vent the smell straight out.
2. I didn't connect the fans which would move the air to the vent (but without the venting might make things worse )
3. You can't smell it if you run the heating (or cold air) in the car - the air flows from the front of the car to the back and then out, so if you run the air through the car and don't have it on recirculate, and the fans are running half or better speed, then even the most discriminating nose probably would be ok. If you have the air on recirculate though, the smell is really bad after a while.

Still, the smell definitely falls into the "grim" catagory. It smells a bit like a cross between a burning tire, a rotting carcass, and some industrial chemical smell. And if you think that I'm overly exaggerating, well, I am, but it really does smell a bit like these things and it really is unpleasant.

You might think it's coming from the batteries (which would change the smell from "grim" to "disturbing and grim"), but in my case after a bit of sleuthing around, it's coming from the 5kW inverter. The warmer the inverter, the more the smell.

It might burn off after a few weeks - although I've had my kit installed for a few weeks and I'm still smelling it... although there's less of it. Still, if I vented things as they are supposed to be vented, I think it would go away.

Coming back from driving my daughter's home from school, I managed about 4 miles at about 40mph with the ICE only turning on twice and very briefly - the rest was on electric alone. I know there are expert Prius drivers that can do way better, but I was pleased.

 

I’m definitely not an expert Prius driver but yesterday I wanted to see if I could drive a substantial distance pure electric; this should be possible driving at low speeds. The circuit was a long winding road through the forest where I live with hardly any traffic at around 6 pm.

I did the test drive in ‘pure EV’ in my 2006 Prius with Enginer 4 kWh version 5, bought August 2010. Pressed the EV button right from the start in my garage so I did not have to use a single drop of gas if it worked. Total distance was 20.2 km (12.5 miles) and with slow acceleration I was able to maintain a speed of between 30 and 40 km/h (18 – 26 mph) with the inverter providing 12.2 Amps on average and 16.2A peak value. According to my Scangauge2 the HV SOC stayed between 51 and 54%. Outside temperature was 9oC or 48 F. and I still use my Nokian winter tires.

After returning home I fully charged again and it took 2.82 kWh to refill it. Normally a fully depleted pack takes 3.70 kWh to refill so I should have been able to drive a maximum distance of (3.70/2.82 * 20.2) 26.5 km or 16.5 miles on pure EV.

A few things I noticed. About halfway along the trip the fans went on and stayed on permanently, afterwards the inverter felt warm but not extremely hot. As soon as the SOC went to the lower part of the range, 51 – 53%, the current output was around 12A or higher and above 53% only around 2 to 6 Amps.

It was surprising to see that it is possible to drive pure EV with the Enginer kit, but you will have to drive at low speeds and accelerate very slowly. I wonder any other Enginer users have similar experiences.

 

I can concur with the smell. It comes from the DC-DC converter, not the batteries. It only starts to smell once it heats up. It will eventually burn off. During the Summer, mine burned off the smell after about 2 weeks. But then my converter failed and I got a replacement and started all over again with the smell. Only this time, it was colder outside and the unit doesn't heat up until I'm just about to work. So it was never really burning it off. However, I finally installed the vent-hose so I do not smell it now at all.

 

Sadly, there's no vent hose with Gen3

Floyd, i'm planning to do an EV range test once i have my new cells in, there's a 1 mile circuit in the next village which i will keep looping round till empty. I'll try to video it as well, but i believe it'll take about an hour so quite a boring video!

 

Don't drive on EV too time. That's how my inverter got fried

 

It's only 9 degrees here right now, so i don't think overheating is an issue!

 

What is too much time in EV mode and can the converter be cooled better (e.g., better fan, better circulation) to help?